Shipyard breaks ground on largest building to date

Photo by: Ethan AndrewsA bulldozer and an excavator on May 9 dig into the future site of Front Street Shipyard's Building 6.

Belfast — Workers on Wednesday bulldozed the median of a former municipal parking lot on Front Street in preparation for groundbreaking on Front Street Shipyard's new 21,700-square-foot workshop, known as Building 6.

The building, which has been in the works since 2013, will be the largest on the shipyard property, and at 69 feet tall, among the tallest in the city. It will stand next to and 11 feet taller than the existing Building 5 workshop where large vessels are serviced today.

The added height will allow the larger of the shipyard's two travel lifts to wheel vessels measuring more than 100 feet long directly into the building without transferring them to a trailer first, as must be done today.

Shipyard President JB Turner said he hopes to have the foundation done by July. The slab will be poured in three sections and require installing 100,000 rebar ties and plumbing for radiant heat, he said. The rest of the building will take shape later in the year, he said.

An undated artist's rendering of the planned Building 6 as it would appear beside the smaller, existing Building 5 at Front Street Shipyard.
(Source: City of Belfast)